West Texas A&M University

Shaffer Named WTAMU Provost

CANYON, Texas—Dr. Wade Shaffer has been named provost/vice president for academic affairs at West Texas A&M University pending approval of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.

Shaffer has served as the University’s interim provost/vice president for academic affairs since March 2012, filling the position vacated by Dr. James Hallmark who resigned to accept a position as vice chancellor for academic affairs of The Texas A&M University System.

“We are very excited to have Dr. Shaffer as provost,” WTAMU President J. Patrick O’Brien said. “He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the position, and he will continue to serve the University well.”

Shaffer joined the University faculty in 1994 as an assistant professor of history and through the years, he has taken on many roles at WTAMU. In 2001 he was named head of the Department of History, Political Science and Criminal Justice in the College of Education and Social Sciences. The department was changed to the Department of History and Geography and moved to the Sybil B. Harrington College where Shaffer was named associate dean in 2008. Two years later Shaffer was appointed to the position of associate provost for academic affairs and moved into the interim provost position in 2012.

Shaffer received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1985 and 1987, respectively. He earned his doctoral degree in American History in 1993 from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. He served as a visiting assistant professor there before joining the WTAMU faculty in 1994. He has won numerous teaching awards at WTAMU and was a nominee for the Carnegie Foundation’s U.S. Professor of the Year in 2004.